By Jed Lanyon
VicForests is in the process of appealing last year’s landmark Federal Court judgement against environmental group Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum, which placed an injunction on logging operations in 66 areas of habitat critical to threatened species contravened both state and federal law.
Victoria’s state logging agency, VicForests, has appealed the court’s findings that its operations are in breach of laws designed to protect threatened species. The appeal was heard in Sydney’s Federal Court through 12-14 April as both parties now await a decision that could have significant implications on the future of the logging industry.
The court reached its conclusion on the case in May last year, with injunctions granted on 21 August, which saw coupes home to the threatened Greater Glider and critically endangered Leadbeater’s Possum protected from logging.
The decision set a legal precedent applying federal threatened species protection law to the logging industry, which has operated under a special exemption from federal environment law for more than 20 years.
Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum president Steve Meacher said he was “confident” Justice Mortimer’s decision would be upheld.
“We look forward to a positive outcome and the national implications this will have for the conservation of threatened wildlife across the country; wildlife that is rapidly losing its last remaining habitat to logging under the disastrous Regional Forest Agreements.
“Ongoing logging is pushing the Leadbeater’s Possum and Greater Glider ever closer to extinction, along with other threatened wildlife across the country. The fate of our forest dwelling species is grim in the aftermath of the Black Saturday and Black Summer bushfires, and yet state governments continue to log their “lifeboats” – the last refuges where our wildlife are managing to hang on.
“Instead of focusing on ensuring that logging across their operations complies with the laws intended to protect the Greater Glider and Leadbeater’s Possum as the Court found they should, VicForests has decided to take our community-based volunteer group back to court.”
A VicForests spokesperson told Star Mail, “VicForests is currently appealing the decision of Justice Mortimer on numerous grounds. As this matter is awaiting a decision, we are unable to comment further.“
